MORGANTOWN – In another case of members of the Morgantown Police Department butting heads with city officials, the president of the local FOP says the city has refused to grant his FOIA request.
The city police officers, who are members of the Monongalia-Preston Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87, filed their complaint May 11 in Monongalia Circuit Court against the City of Morgantown.
According to the complaint, Lodge 87 President Brandon Viola filed a Freedom of Information Act request April 4 to the city asking for a copy of a Wage and Compensation Study that had been mentioned during the February 22 Morgantown City Council meeting. During that meeting, it was said the study had been completed by GovHR for Fiscal Year 2022, and that salary and budget decisions were made with information from that study.
Toriseva
Viola also asked City Manager Kim Haws for a list of hourly rates paid to city employees in the 2021 calendar year. Viola told Haws he made the request as president of the FOP Lodge and because “the current political climate has led to problems with recruiting and retaining qualified police officers.” He also told Haws he wanted to “see if the City of Morgantown is paying City employees (especially, though not limited to, Police Officers) reasonable and competitive wages.”
In addition, Viola said the requested information was “in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. … And the safety of the public is directly tied to having adequate number of qualified emergency personnel to providing service, and reasonable and competitive wages are a primary step in ensuring adequate staffing.”
The plaintiffs say they did receive a list of hourly rates paid to city employees in the 2021 calendar year, but Viola said he received an email from Morgantown City Attorney Ryan Simonton saying “there are no records responsive to the request for a compensation study, as the study is not yet complete.”
On April 12, Viola then requested “whatever portions of the ‘Classification and Compensation’ study the city has received.” The city denied that request, saying the documents are exempt from disclosure.
On April 21, Viola sent a letter to Haws following a letter sent to all city employees about changes to the leave policies that take effect July 1. In his letter, Viola notes that the changes as well as parts of the city budget were made using information from the Wage and Compensation Study from GovHR.
On April 29, all city department heads received a memo from Haws focusing on highlights of the employment handbook changes and compensation study.
As of May 11, the plaintiffs said they had not yet received a copy of the compensation study or an invitation to review it. In addition, the Secretary of State’s office data regarding FOIA requests shows Viola’s April 4 request being granted and completed on April 12.
“The FOIA request is not complete,” the complaint states. “The information on the FOIA request database is incorrect. … The City of Morgantown incorrectly reported the result of the FOIA request.”
The plaintiffs ask the court to conduct a hearing as soon as possible for their request for declaratory judgment to receive the study requested by Viola. They also seek attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Teresa Toriseva, Joshua Miller and Michael Kuhn of Toriseva Law in Wheeling.
In December, Monongalia Circuit Judge Susan Tucker issued a ruling putting an end to an ordinance that would have allowed the creation of a civilian police review board for the city. Members of the FOP had filed a petition seeking to have the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board abolished after it was created by Morgantown City Council. They said the board would have interfered with the city’s established Civil Service Commission.
Monongalia Circuit Court case number 22-C-114